Cruise suggestions (reviews, Royal Carribean, best, experiences)

[cdcdguy]

We are taking one this January and the choices are too many! Could someone point us in the direction to start looking?

7 day to the Carribean
We are both around 50 with no children traveling. Want a quieter cruise with like age.
Room with at least 200 sq ft. with privare balcony.
For the 2 of us we want to spend about $4500 for everything.
Would prefer to leave from Ft. Lauderdale and not Miami
Want at least one casino
We rise early and go to bed early
Varied dining options

Don't care too much about port of calls.

Could you please suggest a line and particular ship.

Thanks!

[Granny Sue]

You might want to go to Cruise Reviews, Cruise Deals and Cruises - Cruise Critic.

Anything and everything about cruising is found there.

At your age and your requirements I'd avoid Carnival all together. Nice cruise line but geared towards young adults looking to party.

Avoid Disney for obvious reasons.

I really enjoyed Royal Carribean and if you like it quieter then Celebrity might be a good fit. We are 48 and 54 and found that we were a bit young for Celebrity and we don't even party.
Timing matters too. Try to go when you know most kids are in school.

Hopefully someone else can chime in here and help you out.

[Ghengis]

Have cruised Celebrity and Princess (balconies) and would probably lean towards Celebrity just a bit. Celebrity seemed a bit more luxrious and pampered while Princess seemed to be a bit more lively and younger PX.

Great savings available on Celebrity right now (and likely all lines) if you can get away between now and April. 7 night Carib cruise (w/veranda) available for as little as $649. 7 night cruise in January would start at $949. Think they were different itineraries but you indicated the ports don't much matter to you.

Try and get an aft cabin. You are out of the wind and generally have a huge balcony. Go down one or two days early to avoid the rushing from airport to ship stress especially if you are coming from northern climes.

[cdcdguy]

Thanks for the sugesstions so far. We will fly into Ft. Lauderdale at least a day before. Would it be safe to assume if we took a more luxury style ship we would eliminate the 20 something party crowd? I don't think we would feel out of place with an older crowd, but many of those cruises seem to be 14 days or longer. Want to keep this one to 7 days.

[wit-nit]

The 2 Princess cruises we took to the Carribean had very few people under 50 on the ship. One was a 7 day cruise, the other a 10 day cruise. We've been on Princess cruises 5 times and never encountered a younger crowd problem. Many of the amenities were geared to the older generation. They do have some places for entertainment for younger folks if you're into the younger stuff.
During the summer, schools out time, is when you may run into more younger crowd.
The service, food and entertainment was great. And if you're 50 or over that entertainment will suit you perfectly.
Now Carnival, that's a different story. Party time for the young 'uns.

[johna01374]

I'm 36 and we ahve been on several cruises one three different lines and by far our best experiences have been with Royal Caribbean. Neither of us are the real party types and we would much rather relax, catch a show, lay on the beach etc than party all night.

We've been on Royal, Princess, Disney and Carnival. Princess cruise was boring even for us but it was a nice ship just not much going on. Carnival was a joke. Service was bad, Boat was dirty and just geared too much toward hard core drinkers. Royal was a nice mix. The ships where perfect, service was better than excellent and the food was tremendous. Disney was done for the kid and he had a great time. Surpeisingly there was a lot for us adults to do as well. We're doing another cruise in a year or so and i;m sure it will be on royal Caribbean.

[annerk]

I think your best bet would be Regent. Very few children, gorgeous cabins, and if you book early enough 2 for 1 pricing. They are much more inclusive than any of the other mass market lines mentioned previously.

If you are willing to give up the balcony and a bit of cabin space, Windstar might also work for you. They are smaller ships that only carry 150-300 passengers with a huge crew to passenger ratio. Their cruises are port intensive, so you don't spend much time in your cabin. Because the ships are smaller, they can get into small ports that the mass market lines can't for more unique experiences and less crowded ports.

[Jaggy001]

Originally Posted by annerk

I think your best bet would be Regent. Very few children, gorgeous cabins, and if you book early enough 2 for 1 pricing. They are much more inclusive than any of the other mass market lines mentioned previously.

If you are willing to give up the balcony and a bit of cabin space, Windstar might also work for you. They are smaller ships that only carry 150-300 passengers with a huge crew to passenger ratio. Their cruises are port intensive, so you don't spend much time in your cabin. Because the ships are smaller, they can get into small ports that the mass market lines can't for more unique experiences and less crowded ports.

Regent are excellent. However, if you are going to look at that level of cruise line then look at Seabourn too. All the luxury lines are expensive but no paying for drinks, no supplements for the speciality restaurants, larger cabins most with balconies and no tipping.

[cb at sea]

On a mass-market ship, you'll need to book a suite to get the sq. footage your desire....Carnival has some of the larger standard cabins, and they run 185 sq. ft...most ship's standard balcony cabins are smaller.